Stephen Knapp is an American artist who works primarily in lightpaintings. Born in Worcester, MA in 1947, he had a background in photography before discovering large-scale installations while studying in Japan in the 1980’s. Afer working with photo-ceramic murals and etching images onto metals and glass for architectural works, Knapp found lightpainting in the late 1990’s.
Knapp uses special glass treated with layers of metallic coatings that act as a selective prism to cast shards of colored light from a single white light source. Knapp’s installations typically occur on concrete walls, and the glass shards are affixed at specific angles to manipulate the light and create an abstract piece.
Knapp’s work at Ball St., entitled “First Symphony”, is one of his more elaborate works. The name helps describe how he feels about his light art: that the shape, color, and space that he incorporates should work together much like harmony, melody, and timing for a musician. He often describes his pieces as “Symphonies of Light”.
Here is a video clip showing Stephen debuting this piece and talking about his inspiration: https://youtu.be/0wYbwVpiG9o?t=90
Notice how the light sources don’t interfere with each other, and the primary shards of light work outward to fill the entire canvas.
Another one of his works, “False Prophet”, brings a more somber tone. The greyscale mixed with small instances of muted colors help drive home this mood and keep the appearance of the work true to the original intent. The light all travels in one direction, creating an almost tower or mountain upon which the source sits.
“Risen Blue” brings a more energetic feel, with vibrant blues and yellows criss-crossing across the canvas at sharp angles with unique ending patterns. This piece, with only one light source, does a good job of illustrating how Knapp not only uses translucent glass, but also reflective panels to change the direction of the beams.
Knapp’s piece “Transformation” is a good example of him using his primarily 2D art style to fill a 3D space. He installs glass panels on the ceiling as well as two cornering walls to walk the light around the entire room. It is particularly impressive how he got the same color bands of light to line up at the corner, making it seem like the light was stretching around it.
Finally, Knapp would also fix his light sources onto raised panels to create a frame of shadow on the outer half of the work. This shadow would provide depth to the piece, as well as making the primary section stand out. On this work, entitled “Fade into Black”, he uses a number of different panels that all end quickly to create the appearance that the lightpainting is melting into the black background.